Challenges for Intellectual Property Rights in the Age of Digitization

The 21st century undoubtedly belongs to intellectual property law. In principle, each area of social life, but also private individuals to some extent, depend on legal regulations in this field. On the one hand, amazing technological development has taken place, thanks to which unprecedented improvements have been made in areas such as health, economic well-being and overall quality of life, on the other, technologies have forever changed societies, not just Western ones. Therefore, intellectual property law has faced huge challenges since the beginning of our century. It can deepen the gap between the poor and the rich by hindering access to modern solutions, it can also help overcome barriers (access to medicines, knowledge, and material goods). Legal issues arise in every field that humanity develops through its creativity - soon, legislators will have to face questions regarding, among others effective protection of software, big data, personalized medicine, autonomous vehicles, video games and artificial intelligence, etc. However, the question arises whether the actions of legislators will meet the expectations of society and whether they are sensitive to the needs of a changing world.

This article discusses the issue of the significance of property rights in the Polish legal order in the context of the digitization of the main state registers and possible consequences of attacks on them. Technological progress makes it possible to transfer registers from a traditional paper form to a digital form. This process has also been performed in the area of Land and Mortgage Registers. Due to the above, every Internet user, who knows the number of the Land and Mortgage Register, is able to verify its legal status. There are real material values related to the data in the Electronic Land and Mortgage Registers. The above may cause that, like banking systems, also the system of the Electronic Land and Mortgage Registers, may become subject to attacks by cybercriminals. This article considers the possible effects of such actions and possibilities of protecting against them.